Janet Jackson dishes on ‘Colored Girls’ role, fame

Tuesday

Nov 2, 2010 at 8:00 AM

By BILL GOODYKOONTZGannett Chief Film Critic

Janet Jackson has had such massive success as a singer that it’s easy to think of acting as just something she dabbles in between CDs.She doesn’t see it that way.Jackson, 44, considers herself an actress first. Toward that end, she appears in “For Colored Girls,” a film written and directed by Tyler Perry, with whom Jackson has worked before, and based on Ntozake Shange’s play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf.” She spoke by phone recently about her role as Jo, a hard-driving magazine publisher who worked her way out of the ghetto and is in a struggling marriage, as well as about living most of her life as a famous person.Question: A really dumb question to start: Why is your hair so short in the movie?Answer: It’s shorter now. I’ve cut it even shorter. I was sick of the long hair, and I knew I was ready to cut my hair again. It’s not the first time I’ve cut my hair short. And when I read the script and read this character, I definitely thought she called for short hair and to be a fit woman. So that’s why I cut my hair - and changed my size (laughs).Question: Jo starts out as almost a villain, but gradually lets down her guard. How did you approach that transformation?Answer: I think that Tyler wrote it that way. There comes a point where you see her humanity. You feel sorry for her and what she’s going through. It was all there on paper. It was just me doing whatever I possibly could do to make it come to life and jump off the screen, so that the audience would truly get it.Question: She’s pretty tough.Answer: She’s hard. And she dives into her work. That’s her baby.That’s her life, is that magazine. And she worked so hard to get out of that ghetto where all these women are, so that she didn’t have to live that life.She lives a very privileged life and doesn’t want to go back there. (But) you see the humanity in her.Question: How important was it to work in a cast with so many strong black actresses? (The cast includes Thandie Newton, Phylicia Rashad, Whoopi Goldberg and Kimberly Elise, among others.)Answer: It was very important, and I pray this isn’t the last. I hope this just grows more and more from this point on. I hope Tyler truly opens up the door. We’re making progress. It might be a little slow, but we’re making it.Question: What was it like on the set?Answer: When the girls were in the trailer discussing the story and discussing their roles and discussing these things, I was really trying to stay true to my character, who doesn’t want to have anything to do with them, that world.So I stayed away from all that. ... And there was a part of me that so badly wanted to be back there with them and enjoying this moment with them.Question: Had you seen the play?Answer: I saw a production of it just last year with Tyler for the first time. We were at the tail end of (shooting) “Why Did I Get Married Too?” He said, “Hey, I’m going to see this play “For Colored Girls.’” I said, “I remember that.” He said, “Yeah, there’s a production of it nearby. Do you want to come along” I said OK, cool. I never knew anything was going on until after we finished and we were driving back to my place, and he said, “You know, they’ve asked me direct (this) as my next film.” I said, “Oh, really, I think that would be really cool. So that’s why you’re here to see it?” And he said, “Yeah,” and he goes, “I would like for you to be one of the characters.” I said, “That’s why you invited me?” He said, “Well, what did you think?” I said, well, I thought it was just friends going to see a play, hanging out.Question: Why don’t you act more?Answer: Because I was always so busy with my music. This is my first job. This is what I’ve always done first. I was an actress before I was a singer. This is what I wanted to do in life. When I was 14, my father told me I was going to sing, so I did. I eventually wound up really falling in love with it. Just before I did “Control,” actually, and really decided to make a go of it, but on my terms. I’ve always wanted to continue acting, but I’m just finally now living out a really old dream since I was a kid.Question: Do you find that being famous can be a burden?Answer: Yeah I do. And it doesn’t matter what country you’re in. I think everyone should be afforded their privacy. I think it’s everyone’s right. Just because you see someone on TV every day or listen to their music doesn’t mean, to me personally, that you have the right to dive into their personal lives. Everyone should have something to be left to themselves. You can work in an office with a ton of co-workers. Does that make it their right to listen to the dramas, or even the beautiful moments that you are experiencing at home That’s not right.Question: It seems like there is more and more coverage of celebrities and their lives.Answer: A lot of people today, this is why they get into the industry. They want people to notice them. They want everywhere they go for people to take their picture. When you have people tweeting where they’re going to be, or where they are right now, to me that means you want the attention. Not that that makes it bad, but that’s what you’re looking for. I personally got into this, obviously, one, because of my family, and the love for it. I eventually wanted to create music because I love music. I love dance. I love entertainment. I wanted to be an actress because I love entertaining people and seeing different characters come to life.

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